Читать книгу No Money, No Beer, No Pennants. The Cleveland Indians and Baseball in the Great Depression онлайн

46 страница из 104

In the 1927 campaign Hudlin would win eighteen games, leading the Cleveland pitching staff. He might have won twenty, but a bad-hop grounder hit him right between the eyes, resulting in a concussion. For too many days he was light-headed and frequently bled from the nose. Regardless of the accident, Hudlin still had an exceptional season. He was one of the bright spots in a vastly disappointing year.

Team president Bradley and general manager Evans certainly wanted to improve their ball club for the 1928 season. This posed quite a challenge for the Indians as well as the other American League teams trying to unseat the World Champion Yankees. The New York club was an absolute powerhouse with no hint of slowing down. In 1927, Babe Ruth broke his own home run record with sixty, while Lou Gehrig trailed with a paltry forty-seven. Next in line was Tony Lazzeri with eighteen. The Ruth-Gehrig combination knocked in an amazing total of 339 runs. If that was not enough, Bob Meusel had 103 RBIs while Lazzeri finished with 102. The Yankees won 111 games against forty-four defeats. One has to go back to 1906 to find a club with a better record, that being the Chicago Cubs of 1906, led by first baseman/manager Frank Chance. If for some reason the big bats were silent, the Yankee pitching staff could easily take up the slack. Waite Hoyt led all American League pitchers with twenty-two wins, followed closely by Herb Pennock with nineteen.